2016 Williams Martini Racing F1 Team - Mercedes

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UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX PRACTICE

21 OCT 2016
FP1
Weather: Warm and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 18-20C / 23-29C
V Bottas, FW38-03, PU106C Hybrid, 1:39.776 (6th)
F Massa, FW38-02, PU106C Hybrid, 1:40.191 (11th)
Quickest time: L Hamilton, 1:37.428

FP2
Weather: Warm and dry
Air & Track Temperatures: 22-23C / 37-38C
V Bottas, FW38-03, PU106C Hybrid, 1:39.197
F Massa, FW38-02, PU106C Hybrid, 1:39.281
Quickest time: N Rosberg, 1:37.358

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: Today was a fairly standard Friday for us and the focus has been on completing our work plan as usual and getting the data we need. We had new aerodynamic components on the car this morning that we were testing, a new front wing and brake duct, and these looked reasonably positive with good driver feedback. Valtteri tested the halo this morning as well. It was a purely aesthetic device to gauge driver reaction and visibility. In the afternoon we focused on our normal tyre and set-up work. On the long and short runs we look to be roughly where we expect to be relative to the teams we are battling with, so I’m optimistic we can have a decent weekend. With the midfield looking as tight as it is, qualifying well will be very important, so we need to make no mistakes.

Valtteri Bottas: Today’s practice was pretty straight forward with no problems for me. We covered all three compounds we have available here this week and did a double install with the halo device. The starting balance of the car was perfectly good, as well as the driveability, but there’s still plenty of work to do in both the short and long runs. We can make improvements in all areas I think ahead of tomorrow.

Felipe Massa: We were not looking as competitive in FP2 on the low fuel as we would have liked, so we need to go away and understand what needs improving. There isn’t one particular area that we need to focus on, it’s a mix of things that we need to get coming together. It will be a big fight with Force India tomorrow and we need to make improvements overnight in order to get the edge on them

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AMS F1 News ‏@ams_formula1 5m5 minutes ago
Bottas will stay at Williams for one more year. More news & rumours from the drivers market -> AMuS: https://goo.gl/fb/820PiU

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UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING

22 OCT 2016
Circuit of the Americas, USA

5.515 km / 3.427 miles

Qualifying Notes

Valtteri Bottas qualified eighth and Felipe Massa ninth for the United States Grand Prix.
After a relatively straight forward qualifying session, both cars progressed from Q1 to Q2 on supersoft tyres. Valtteri completed one timed lap to finish in P10, with Felipe finishing ahead in P9 after two timed laps.
In Q2, Valtteri advanced to Q3 in P9 after two laps, and Felipe finished P10 after one lap; with only a hundredth of a second between them.
One timed lap each in Q3 saw Felipe cross the line at the chequered flag in ninth, followed by Valtteri in eighth position.


Weather: Hot and dry
Temperature: Air 23-25°C Track 34-37°C

Q1
F. Massa: 1:37.402 (9th)
V. Bottas: 1:37.456 (10th)
Quickest time: L. Hamilton 1:36.296

Q2
V. Bottas: 1:37.202 (9th)
F. Massa: 1:37.214 (10th)
Quickest time: D. Ricciardo 1:36.255

Q3
V. Bottas: 1:37.116
F. Massa: 1:37.269
Quickest time: L. Hamilton: 1:34.999


Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: Today was a reasonable qualifying performance. We will never be getting too excited about finishing eighth and ninth, but knowing where the car is at this point in the season we have to be reasonably happy. The car wasn’t looking great on low fuel pace yesterday, so we’ve just been chipping away at improving it. I don’t think we’ve managed to get all of the pace out of both cars, but the work we have done overnight has put us in a more respectable position. Our long run pace has been quite strong so far this week, so the goal was to get in amongst our competitors in the championship today. We’ve done that, so we are well set to have a good race tomorrow.

Valtteri Bottas: This was a good qualifying for us as a team. We’re in-between the Force India’s for the start of the race tomorrow, and that’s after they had more pace than us today. Hopefully, tomorrow it will be a different case. It’s going to be a long race and we know we can compete against them with our race pace. The progress we’ve made since today’s practice with our set-up will hopefully help us, as it’s going to be a very close and aggressive battle with Force India. We need to do everything we can to be ahead of both of them. It’s a battle we can win.

Felipe Massa: The positive from today’s qualifying is that both cars are right in the middle of the Force India’s so we are well positioned to race them tomorrow. The only downside is that the gap to Hulkenberg’s car is bigger than we would have liked, but our car is feeling better on long runs at this track than shorter runs which will help us tomorrow. We need to get everything right in the race tomorrow, especially the strategy, to maximise the points we score.

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Monza, Autodromo blindato: gira la Williams di F1
Il 17enne Lance Stroll prende confidenza in vista del 2017: prenderà il sedile di Felipe Massa

(video too )

http://www.ilgiorno.it/monza-brianza/cr ... -1.2614930

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UNITED STATES GRAND PRIX

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23 OCT 2016
Circuit of the Americas, USA

5.515 km / 3.427 miles

Weather: Hot and dry
Temperature: Air 26-29°C, Track: 32-37°C

Race Notes:
• Felipe Massa finished seventh and Valtteri Bottas 16th in the United States Grand Prix.
• Felipe had an excellent start, gaining two positons at the first corner and was running P6. However, a virtual safety car was deployed due to Verstappen’s retirement allowing Sainz an advantage to move ahead into P5. In the final stint, in a battle for P5, Felipe and Alonso came together to Felipe’s detriment, dropping him to seventh and causing puncture which resulted in a penultimate lap pitstop. Felipe was able to maintain track positon and finish the race in seventh, ahead of Perez.
• At turn one, Valtteri suffered a puncture following a collision with Hulkenberg, forcing him to pit on the first lap. His battle was then at the back of the grid for P15 with Nasr, which he led until the closing stages of the race when Nasr was able to get ahead.
• The team stays fifth in the Constructors’ Championship, closing the gap to Force India to eight points.

Rob Smedley, Head of Performance Engineering: The key factor today was that Valtteri was out of the race effectively from the first corner after having to limp back to the pits with a puncture after an incident with Hulkenberg. After that, we just tried to concentrate on Felipe. He had got himself into a good position and we created a decent gap to Sainz in the first stint. We then had a good pitstop and strategy, and kept a good gap to Sainz on the option tyre, so we were in control of our race. However, the virtual safety car caused by Verstappen put us at a disadvantage and allowed Sainz to get ahead. We were then just waiting for his tyres to degrade when Alonso caught up, and collided with Felipe as he tried to get through. The car could have secured fifth today but circumstances went against us. However, we will be back in seven days’ time and will continue to close the gap to Force India in the championship.

Felipe Massa: I had a really good start and the race was going fantastically. I avoided the incidents at corner one and managed to overtake two cars. Our pace was really good and I managed to open up the gap to the cars behind. Then I was really unlucky with the virtual safety car because I was nine seconds ahead and then Sainz came out in front of me, gaining a lot of time and points. At the end, Fernando dived into the corner I was taking, hit my car and I got a puncture because of it. It destroyed every opportunity I had to finish the race in sixth, and potentially fifth. We still finished seventh and closed the gap to Force India, but it should have been more. It’s time to look ahead to Mexico.

Valtteri Bottas: It was a very disappointing day today. I went into turn one on the inside and had a good line for the corner, but at the apex Hulkenberg touched me and I got a puncture. That also damaged the floor of the car and I lost a lot of downforce for the rest of the race. I’m happy there is another race coming quickly next week in Mexico to try and make up for this. The positive thing is that we narrowed the gap to Force India a bit, but we need to make sure that we score good points with both cars.

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I have missed the news below (Thanks to user Francesc!)

AMUS:
Toro Rosso-Techniker zieht es zu Williams
Toro Rosso laufen die Ingenieure weg. Nachdem bekannt wurde, dass Technikdirektor James Key 2018 bei WilliamsVideo: Formel Schmidt GP Japan! andockt, lief auch noch Chefingenieur Phil Charles weg. Auch den zieht es zu Williams.

Translate: Phil Charles will move to Williams Martini Racing!

[continuum16]

And James Key?
Seems too good to be true.
Hopefully it is true, though.

[LookBackTime]

Williams to announce 2017 line-up after Mexico

WILLIAMS
27 Oct 2016 Share
Williams will announce their 2017 driver line-up at their Grove headquarters on Thursday November 3.

Despite reported interest from Renault, Valtteri Bottas is widely expected to stay at the team, with Canadian rookie – and new European F3 champion – Lance Stroll set to come in as his team mate in place of the retiring Felipe Massa.

Williams, who are currently fifth in the constuctors’ standings, eight points behind Force India, have fielded the same driver line-up since the beginning of 2014. Only Mercedes have kept the same driver pairing for longer.

There are still 10 seats unconfirmed for 2017 - although Williams' impending announcement will bring that down to eight. Alongside Williams, three teams - Haas, Sauber and Manor - are yet to confirm either driver, while Force India and Renault both have one vacancy.

Daniil Kvyat was the latest driver to be announced for the coming season, after Toro Rosso confirmed they will retain the Russian during last weekend's 2016 Formula 1 United States Grand Prix.

[continuum16]

It's worth noting that Lance Stroll's birthday is October 29, meaning he would be 18 by November 3rd. Coincidence? Doubt it. So the reason they waited to announce the pairing may well be because of the age clash with Martini.

[Mr Brooksy]

WILLIAMS RACING
Symantec ‏@symantec 2h2 hours ago
Welcome to Austin, @WilliamsRacing! Today Symantec will share some exciting security and #F1 news. Stay tuned. #USGP

Anyone know what happened with all this?

[Sevach]

WILLIAMS RACING
Symantec ‏@symantec 2h2 hours ago
Welcome to Austin, @WilliamsRacing! Today Symantec will share some exciting security and #F1 news. Stay tuned. #USGP

Anyone know what happened with all this?

It was something boring about how Symantec helps keep Williams safe, you will excuse me for not searching for it...

[Mr Brooksy]

WILLIAMS RACING
Symantec ‏@symantec 2h2 hours ago
Welcome to Austin, @WilliamsRacing! Today Symantec will share some exciting security and #F1 news. Stay tuned. #USGP

Anyone know what happened with all this?

It was something boring about how Symantec helps keep Williams safe, you will excuse me for not searching for it...

No worries Savach, I was hoping it was an announcement that they would be sponsoring the team for 40M or more a year from '17. But knowing the company as I do, they'd not part with anything if possible.

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